Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that on Friday, January 30, RAHSHIM CARTER, also known as “Jinks” and “Mace,” 26, of Bridgeport, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 62 months of imprisonment for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and for violating his supervised release from a previous federal conviction.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on January 9, 2013, CARTER was sentenced in Hartford federal court to 18 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release for distributing heroin in and around the Trumbull Gardens housing complex in Bridgeport. He was released from prison on September 11, 2013, and began serving his term of supervised release.

On February 14, 2014, Bridgeport Police received a report that a man driving a black Dodge Durango was selling narcotics in the area of Trumbull Avenue and Reservoir Avenue. Police caught up to the Durango on Reservoir Avenue, pulled it over and learned that a license plate on the Durango belonged to another vehicle. CARTER was in the driver’s seat of the Durango and a woman was in the passenger seat. A search of CARTER’s female passenger revealed a loaded Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .380 firearm. A search of the vehicle also revealed approximately 250 glassine envelopes, commonly used to package heroin for street sale, and a stamp kit.

The investigation revealed that CARTER possessed the firearm and that he attempted to conceal it in the woman’s pants as he was about to be stopped by police. The investigation further revealed that the firearm was one of 111 firearms stolen from Smith & Wesson’s distribution plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, in November 2012.

CARTER has been detained since his federal arrest on April 9, 2014. On November 3, 2014, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.

Judge Shea sentenced CARTER to 50 months of imprisonment for illegally possessing a firearm, and a consecutive 12-month prison term for violating the terms and conditions of his supervised release.

This matter was investigated by the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force and the Bridgeport Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Kale.